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Ask a Vet (Pet Health) (Expert Forum)
Bald Spots and Itching in cat... Not ringworm
Answered by
Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M. - Small Animals, dogs, cats
Randolph - NJ
This forum is for pet health questions! Dr. Cheng's interests include: Small animal medicine & surgery, Veterinary Acupuncture and Veterinary Chinese Herbal Medicine and Veterinary NAED, Allergy diagnosis & treatment
Bald Spots and Itching in cat... Not ringworm
by FLaddict, May 07, 2007 12:00AM
My cat Stanley has been having thinning and even bald spots for about 2 months. We had him tested for ringworm and it came back negative. Any ideas of what this could be from?? My vet suggested steroid shots. But we would have to do them every month. Thats expensive and time consuming. Any thoughts would help.
Doctor's Answer
by Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., May 07, 2007 12:00AM
, May 07, 2007 12:00AM
Unfortunately thinning hair and bald spots in a cat could be due to a variety of different problems. These include: allergies to anything in the environment or food allergies, skin parasites such as fleas, scabies, fungal or yeast infections (not just ringworm), autoimmune diseases and behavioral disorders. This is a long list, but your veterinarian can rule them out by diagnostic testing such as skin scrapings, impression smears, trichoscopy (examine the hair and hair follicles microscopically), fungal and yeast testing, intradermal skin tests, blood tests and, skin biopsy. Much of the time a skin scraping is often the only test necessary, since Ectoparasites (skin parasites) are very common. It would help in your cat’s case if a diagnosis were made so that the appropriate treatment could be instituted. Getting the proper diagnosis would save you time and money in the long run. Testing for ringworm is just one test. If your cat is very itchy, an injection of steroids (or oral course of steroids) could help. Oral steroids are very inexpensive. Steroid injections could help for anywhere from 3 weeks to several months. They don’t necessarily have to be repeated monthly. A short course of steroids either by mouth or injection is not harmful. The only time that steroids are contraindicated is in the very obese cat due to the risk of diabetes. Hope that helps, Thanks!
Dr. Cheng
Dr. Cheng
